The Hindu : New Delhi News : TV actor, accomplice held for extortion

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Sunday, Jan 04, 2009
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New Delhi

TV actor, accomplice held for extortion

Staff Reporter

‘Tried to extort 50 lakh from garment exporter’

NEW DELHI: A young television actor has been arrested along with an accomplice for allegedly trying to extort Rs.50 lakh from a businessman by posing as the henchman of underworld don Chhota Shakeel. The other accused is a former employee of the victim.

A South Delhi garments exporter had lodged a complaint with the Anti-Extortion Cell of the Delhi Police Crime Branch alleging that he had been receiving threat calls since November 23 from a person identifying himself as Badshah, a henchman of Chhota Shakeel. The caller demanded Rs.50 lakh as “protection money” from the businessman. The victim also kept getting messages on his mobile phone from the extortionist asking him to arrange the money.

Acting on the complaint, a team under the supervision of Assistant Commissioner of Police Jasvir Malik took up investigations and zeroed in on the suspects’ movements at Rajouri Garden in the Capital. The two suspects were arrested in Raghubir Nagar on Thursday. They were identified as Aslam Ansari (31) and Phool Singh (25). During interrogation, Aslam purportedly disclosed that he was a TV actor.

Resident of Sitamarhi

A resident of Sitamarhi in Bihar, Aslam came to Delhi in 1994 and got himself enrolled for a correspondence course for graduation and a diploma course in computers. He worked as a sales executive in a company for six months, after which he joined an event management firm where he developed an interest in acting.

Aslam went to Mumbai in 2001 and started looking for roles in the film industry. He started getting small roles in movies and serials. According to him, he worked in a Bollywood film, “Woh Tere Naam”, and serials such as “Kahin Kisi Roz” and “Kashish”. He claimed that he had also got a lead role in a film, “Khooni Khanjar”, but the film could not be completed.

Aslam married a singer two years ago. Failing to get good acting opportunities, he came back to Delhi and set up his own garments factory in Raghubir Nagar last year. In August, Phool Singh joined his company as supervisor.

Phool Singh earlier worked in a factory owned by the complainant. As Aslam was not getting desirable returns from the business, he and Phool Singh allegedly conspired to extort money from the latter’s employer. Aslam allegedly bought a mobile phone SIM card from Mumbai, which he used to make threat calls posing as Badshah.

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